BACKPACKS OF DREAMS

Help children & youths kick off their school journey and pursue their dreams-opportunities!

Summary

Over 3,000 vulnerable children and youths were enrolled in our Reentry Educational SUMATE Network 2024—they were out of the school system and lived in poverty. SUMATE programs provide an ad hoc environment and accompany, offering better opportunities to complete their secondary education. They include training workshops to earn industry certifications in culinary, catering, and barbering. They want to start over and pursue their dreams and better opportunities.

Challenge

Multiple factors trigger education exclusion, all linked to extreme poverty and long stories of deprivation. Over 227,000 children are out of school in Chile; many were enrolled but never showed up. The SUMATE Model is an efficient tool for retrieving educational trajectories in at-risk populations. It is a radical intervention where caring and trusting are at the core of everything, offering a new meaning to previous frustrating educational experiences.

Solution

Over 3,000 children and youths see today as an opportunity to learn and advance in our SUMATE educational network programs. They are back and have secured their spots in school. Let’s help to ensure them a good school year and fill their Backpacks of Dreams. Each donation will make it possible to provide school supplies to those most vulnerable.

Long-Term Impact

For over 30 years, SUMATE network programs from Hogar de Cristo have provided quality education to children and youths, focusing on the most vulnerable outside school.

We have four reentry schools, six socio-educational programs, and reentry classrooms throughout Chile. Our coverage reaches 16 communes or administrative districts split into seven regions. Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Región Metropolitana, Maule, BíoBío, and Los Lagos. We serve over 3,000 children & youths.

The school supplies provided to our students are a symbolic seal of compromise to encourage their regular class attendance, start over, and take these small challenges to improve and achieve their goals. The deal is that they must return to classes by bringing the school supplies in their backpacks.

Donate

20 USD – Colored pencils for 15 students

35 USD – Notebooks for 15 students

55 USD – Pack of notebooks plus colored pencils for 15 students

120 USD – Backpack with a complete pack of school supplies for one classroom

240 USD – Backpack with a complete pack of school supplies for two classrooms